The ‘Rev. Tommy Joe’ Takes Wing With Braniff Executive

Thomas J. Voltz, marketing vice president for ailing Braniff Inc., was laid off Tuesday, and he took “Rev. Tommy Joe” with him.

Voltz created the comical Southern preacher, who quoted Biblical-sounding verses from “Chapter 11 of the Book of Braniff,” to inject some humor into the dismal weeks that followed Braniff’s Sept. 28 bankruptcy filing, its second bankruptcy in seven years. The Orlando, Fla.-based airline has since grounded most of its fleet and has laid off 3,725 of its 4,000 workers.

“People started calling me the Reverend,” said Voltz, who left taped greetings from Tommy Joe on his telephone answering machine at his home. He received as many as 300 calls a day from Braniff employees and their friends after word of the tapes began to spread.

Voltz said that when he lost his job, he decided to “kill” Tommy Joe with this recorded message:

“Of truth and fun and wisdom and humor, someone got tired, ‘cause late yesterday the Reverend got fired.

“Oh, yes, let them think life will be fine, but there are more people after their ass than after mine.”

Voltz says Tommy Joe’s disciples need not worry. The preacher will someday return, “for the burial of Braniff III.”